WS Honored by Law360 as Social Impact Leader

November 29, 2022 //

Law360 Pulse recently announced its 2022 Social Impact Leaders Ranking, and Wilkinson Stekloff scored second nationally among firms with fewer than 100 attorneys on the standalone pro bono list. The Social Impact Leaders ranking seeks to measure law firms’ engagement with social responsibility across five pillars: racial and ethnic diversity, gender equality, employee engagement, pro bono service, and responsible business practices. The pro bono pillar is broken out into a separate ranking to allow for more detailed comparison among peer firms, and the score is calculated based on three metrics: percentage of attorneys who provided at least 50 hours of free legal services, overall participation rate in pro bono activity, and average pro bono hours per attorney. While ranked second in its size category, WS posted the highest percentage of participating attorneys — 85.7% — besting the top-ranked firm. WS has innovated away from the billable-hour model, and its holistic …

Wilkinson Stekloff Welcomes New Class of Associates

December 7, 2021 ////////////

Wilkinson Stekloff is pleased to announce the addition of eight associates. The new class is the largest and most diverse in the firm’s history.  “Cases are won by teams who share different perspectives but are united by a common commitment to excellence. We are proud to have recruited some of the best and brightest young lawyers to form the largest and most diverse class Wilkinson Stekloff has had the privilege of welcoming since our founding in 2016,” said Beth Wilkinson, founding partner, Wilkinson Stekloff.  “We are excited to have this talented group join our team,” added Wilkinson Stekloff Founding Partner Brian Stekloff. “Our attorneys appear in front of jury pools that represent all of America and our lawyers need to reflect that. It is critical for us to hire diverse attorneys and give them meaningful trial experience and client exposure.” The WS team reflects the firm’s ongoing commitment to talent …

Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Rakesh Kilaru Named Law360 Rising Star for Sports and Betting

June 21, 2021 ////

Washington, D.C. – Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Rakesh Kilaru was named one of Law360’s 2021 Rising Stars–a lawyer under the age of 40 whose legal accomplishments “transcend his age.”  Rakesh was selected out of more than 1,400 attorneys across the United States and is one of five recognized for exemplary work in the sports and betting industries.  This latest award builds off Wilkinson Stekloff’s recent recognition as one of Law360’s Sports and Betting Groups of the year in 2020. In an interview with Law360, Kilaru discussed his involvement in every one of the firm’s sports litigation matters so far, representing the NCAA and the NFL.  Rakesh noted the importance of focusing at all times on how “to sway the judge or jury,” while also keeping “in the back of your head how that will play on appeal.”  Speaking about the skills he tries to bring to his clients, Rakesh added, “I’m …

Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Moira Penza Named Law360 Rising Star for Trials

July 17, 2020 ///

Washington – Wilkinson Stekloff Partner Moira Penza was named one of Law360’s 2020 Rising Stars.  The award recognizes Moira as a lawyer “under 40 whose accomplishments transcend” her age and describes how she “knocked it out of the park last summer when she prosecuted the leader of a shadowy New York self-help group [Nxivm] for sex trafficking in a six-week trial, then went to private practice and was hired to lead Allergan into an antitrust battle.” In an interview with Law360, Moira discussed her role as lead prosecutor in the Nixvm case and the challenges she faced during trial.  “Managing that role in a case that I was so invested in, having brought it from start to finish and having come to care for the women who had been victimized, [was] really like being thrown in the deep end.  So when I survived and it could not have gone better …

Wilkinson Stekloff Celebrates Another Outstanding Year of High Stakes Trials and Accolades for the Next Generation of Trial Lawyers

December 30, 2019 ///////////////////////////////////

WASHINGTON –Wilkinson Stekloff enters its fifth year having cemented its status as the premier trial litigation boutique in the country. 2019 featured three high-stakes, high-pressure trials, in which different partners served as lead trial counsel and eight partners in total had stand-up roles. The firm continued to receive accolades for its successes in delivering results to its clients while deepening its diverse bench of go-to litigators.

Wilkinson Stekloff Celebrates Banner Year of High Stakes Trial Wins By Next Generation Of Trial Lawyers

January 7, 2019 ////////////////////////////////////

WASHINGTON – Wilkinson Stekloff is racing into its fourth year after notching a series of high-profile victories, led by a large and diverse group of partners. In 2018, all of Wilkinson Stekloff’s partners participated in trials and case-dispositive hearings, and several other attorneys achieved significant on-their-feet experience, including through pro bono cases. The firm earned repeated recognition for the depth and successes of its bench and added a new crop of talented litigators to its roster. Wilkinson Stekloff won three trials in 2018, each of which was first-chaired by a different partner: On April 27, 2018, Wilkinson Stekloff, led by Brian Stekloff, Jeremy Barber, and Lori McGill, won a unanimous defense verdict for Bayer and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals in Russell v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the second state-court Xarelto bellwether trial in the Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas. On May 21, 2018, Wilkinson Stekloff, led by Kosta Stojilkovic …

Law360 MVP: Wilkinson Stekloff’s Beth Wilkinson

December 19, 2017 //////

Law360, New York — Wilkinson Stekloff & Eskovitz PLLC’s Beth Wilkinson only co-founded her firm a year ago, and she and her team have already scored major victories defending Georgia Pacific from a $10 billion antitrust suit and winning the first two trials in the high-stakes Xarelto litigation, securing her a place as one of Law360’s 2017 Trials MVPs. The story is available here. Her biggest accomplishment this year: Wilkinson said that despite the many trial and motion victories her young firm has notched up this past year, her biggest accomplishment is undoubtedly the founding of Wilkinson Stekloff itself back in January. “The building of our firm and the incredibly talented people we’ve managed to get together to work on these cases has been nothing short of amazing,” Wilkinson said. “We started with 17 lawyers and now we’re at 40, and we’re already taking on big, bet-the-company cases that people normally think only BigLaw can …

Law360: Litigation Boutiques Match, Exceed Cravath Scale Bonuses

December 8, 2017 //

Law360, New York (December 5, 2017, 6:28 PM EST) — A pair of litigation boutiques have revealed that their associates would receive year-end bonuses that either matched or exceeded the market scale established by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, which has remained the standard among many BigLaw firms. Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP announced that its associate bonuses would align with the so-called Cravath scale, ranging from $15,000 to $100,000, while Wilkinson Stekloff & Eskovitz LLP, as it did last year, offered bonuses that exceeded that scale by 50 percent for all associates across the board, according to memos that were initially made public Tuesday on legal news blog Above The Law and whose authenticity was confirmed to Law360. “As in the past, this year we remain committed to recognizing the contributions of our excellent associates,” Wilkinson Stekloff partners said in their memo. “And, we are fortunate again this year to be able to provide bonus compensation …

Beth Wilkinson Named American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week and a Law360 Legal Lion for Win in Bellwether Trial for Bayer’s Xarelto

May 5, 2017 ///////

WASHINGTON, May 5, 2017 – Beth Wilkinson was named American Lawyer’s Litigator of the Week and a Law360 Legal Lion. The accolades come after Beth successfully led a team of lawyers in defense of Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals in a key bellwether trial over the blood thinner Xarelto. A federal jury in New Orleans deliberated for about one hour before unanimously deciding in favor of Bayer. On the victory, Wilkinson said, “If you can make your case really clear, so the jury from opening to closings knows what you’re saying, it makes it easier to go back and come to a consensus.” “When doctors come in and say this medication works and is important, it makes it very difficult for plaintiffs to prevail.” Wilkinson will stay on as lead counsel in the next Xarelto trial in New Orleans, scheduled for May 30. Beth Wilkinson is a founding partner at Wilkinson Stekloff. …